One of the consequences of industrialization is the production
of enormous amounts of waste products. These could be the residues that
are accumulated during the manufacturing process as well as ancillary products
of consumption (such as newspapers, cartons, cans, batteries, tires, etc).
These waste products may cause environmental, pollution and health problems if
they are properly disposed of. For some of these waste products, recycling
can be an effective way of management.

To promote the practice of recycling, both rewards and
punishments can be used. The simplest form of a reward is to educate the
people about recycling as a basic obligation of responsible citizens to preserve
the environment. Sometimes, monetary incentive can be attached. For
example, in some places, beverage containers require a small deposit which can
be redeemed upon presentation of the container to recycling centers; even if the
consumers themselves do not bother to return the bottles, there may be an
ancillary system of small enterprise bottle collectors who do so. On the
punishment side, there may be rules and regulations against the disposal of
certain types of products, with the appropriate law enforcement mechanisms in
place. External social pressure can also be applied to make turn
non-recyclers into social pariahs.

We will now cite some survey data from the TGI Latina
study. This is a survey of 48,885 persons between the ages of 12 to 64
years old in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Lima and
Venezuela, conducted during 2001. During this survey, the respondents were
shown the statement: "I recycle paper, bottles and so on."
According to the TGI Latina study, 24.0% of the respondents indicated that they
completely agreed with the this statement.

In the next chart, we show the breakdown of the responses by country.
Clearly, there are wide variations in the practice of recycling across
countries, being a function of the system of rewards and punishments that are
in place. The Latin American leader is Brazil. According to the
Brazilian Aluminum Association, about 80% of the 9.5 billion aluminum cans sold
in 2000 were recycled. This would put Brazil right among the ranks of
world recycling leaders such as Japan. Whereas Japan's system is based upon
responsible citizenship, Brazil uses economic incentives. In the major
metropolitan areas, there are many recycling centers which buy back recyclable
materials for cash or discount foods. An enterprising aluminum can
collector can make as much as five times the minimum wage.

In the next chart, we show the breakdown of the responses by
age/sex. Recycling behavior is more prevalent among older people.
These data informs no further on this matter. We do not know if one's
sense of citizen responsiblity grows as one ages, or homemakers are more budget
conscious, or any number of other hypotheses.

In the next table, we show the breakdown of the responses by
socio-economic level. Recycling behavior is more prevalent among the lower
economic class. On one hand, one would expect civics to be taught and
preached better among the better educated and more affluent. On the other
hand, the economic incentives from redeeming recyclable materials will mean so
much more to the poor. These data would therefore suggest that recycling
in Latin America today functions through economic incentives for recyclers.

A most interesting story about the business of garbage picking
in Mexico City is found in The
Heart That Bleeds: Latin America Now by Alma Guillermoprieto. A
megapolis of twenty million people obviously generates a staggering amount of
garbage a day. As the garbage is transferred from receptable to streets to
transfer points to garbage dumps, impromptu recycling takes place. At the
garbage dumps, garbage picking is an organized business. Guillermoprieto
summarizes the life and times of Rafael Gutiérrez Moreno, known as El Líder of
the garbage pickers (pepenadores). He consolidated position by
distributing large amounts of bribes to all levels of government and he provided
the leading political party (PRI) with large turnout of voters and
demonstrators. In turn, he ran his fiefdom as an absolute
dictatorship. While he built himself an extravagant mansion but he also
rewarded his followers with good housing and vacations. He was a lecher
who took his pick of young girls within the community, and declared that he
wanted to be father of one hundred and eighty children. Finally, El Líder
was shot dead in his bed by his wife, whose sisters and nieces had been raped by
him. Such was the story about garbage.